ACUHO-I News Blog

What would it take to spur change? President Barack Obama spoke last week brilliantly about where he is hoping to take the nation. In his address he mentioned green jobs and our push toward becoming number one in the green sector. As I watched I thought this was brilliant another opportunity to push a vision. This vision is very aspirational when considering the size and consumption level of this wonderful country. However this is a great idea to pursue with implications towards a bright future.

After watching the speech I wanted to find other discussions or general information regarding green jobs on college campuses. Through a bit of Web surfing I pulled in a blog that highlights the discussion of green jobs. This particular blog did a great job of touching on the transition of brown to green jobs. I think it would be very interesting to see how campuses are creating these jobs and whether they are being fueled by green funding.

During the President’s address I pondered two questions:

Question #1-Have we reached the tipping point in regards to how green jobs are advertised? What I’m trying to say is in this economy are green jobs just jobs? I think we have moved passed the label far enough that we often do not notice the green unless its explicitly spelled out.

Question #2-How well do green positions fold into the housing and residential life organizational chart? In other words are green positions becoming stand alone positions or are they still seen as a collateral assignments for housing and residential life professionals?

Progress is good but with the current economy I could understand why there may be hesitation in reorganizing the organization and adding a position. However there is serious value in recruiting our incoming green students into our greening residential communities.  They will consume less. With this in mind it would be important to consider creatively positioning our organizations now to focus our efforts on attracting these students to live with us now and possibly work for us in the future.

This is my first blog contribution to the sustainability discussion/green movement. I have to admit that just typing this post feels fresh and green.

Hope to post more.

U.S. News & World Report recently released a story on the cost of housing for various colleges & universities. This story reports that when looking at the total cost of a school, the cost of housing should also be carefully examined. By looking at the cost and the amenities, families should be able to weigh their options with housing.  The story acknowledges various reasons for the discrepancies in prices around the country. These range from real estate costs to the type of housing provided (apartments, suites, etc.).

The story also acknowledges it is not only  amenities  such as fitness centers and computer labs that add value, but programmatic offerings such as living-learning communities. So, this makes me ask the question, should buildings with amenities such as faculty-in-residence and living-learning community cost more than residence halls without those amenities?  Can we put a monetary value on the residential experience itself? Should the bricks and mortar be the determining cost factor? What are your thoughts?

See the full story here.

Some community colleges, finding the paperwork and lines of orientation overwhelmed and irritated students, changed their venue for the annual event to the students’ homes. Now students complete some paperwork and reading from home before going to campus for the face-to-face part. See the story in Inside HigherEd.

Whitman College, located in the mightily-fun-to-say Walla Walla Washington, sends their incoming freshmen a box of sweet onions to welcome them to the community. We blogged about the issue of “summer melt” a few weeks ago; Wabash College attempts to staunch this by sending incoming freshmen t-shirts, then requesting the students post a picture of themselves wearing it. Does your institution send any gifts to freshmen over the summer to reinforce their college choice?

A Cornell University graduate student has written a paper making an argument that student services spending positively impacts retention and graduation rates. But we all knew that anyway, didn’t we? Now there’s proof.

Now is the time of year when things can melt away. Ice. Fudgesicles. Freshmen.

Institutions expect a certain amount of “summer melt” will occur, and slightly fewer freshmen will show up in the fall than those who have accepted admission to the institution. Likewise, some students who are assigned a residence hall room don’t appear at move-in.

To a certain point, a little melt is okay; institutions and housing departments plan around it. But colleges and universities are fearful that the fall 2009 term could end up looking like a Sno-Cone in August. So some are taking steps to keep as many of these freshmen as possible by keeping them engaged and connected to the school throughout the summer: Quizzes, social networking, check-in calls and t-shirts are among their strategies.